How to make a play mat is the lesson of the day!
Play mats are a wonderful addition to the play room. They can be custom designed by topic or favorite play toy and even be reversible or double sided. Kids Activities Blog is excited to welcome Becky from
Patchwork Posse who is here to share how to make a play mat!
Play mat themes can range from princess, outer space to roads, islands and pirates or whatever theme your little kiddos enjoy. Play mats are easy to store in the toy room, fold up in the car for an emergency play or take to the park for a picnic.
How to Make a Play Mat
Play mat construction is simple with just a few sewing machine stitches and it will be ready for play. The fun part of making these is including your kiddos in the design process. Get the kids to tell you what kind of layout they would like, pick out the fabric together and even how many islands, moons, or castles to add. They can even help with the cutting and placement of the pieces on the play mat.
The background of the play mat is pretty important. Dig around the fabric store and you will find the perfect theme whether it be water, space or glow in the dark.
To construct a play mat, you will need:
- 1 yard of theme choice 36″ X 42″ designer fabric with weight
- Embellishments
- A heavier weight of fabric to go in between the theme fabric .
The piece of designer weight will give the play mat some weight. If you are wanting to make it double sided, fold the material in half, sew on all your embellishments to the backgrounds and then place the heavier fabric in between. Finish by sewing around the fabric.
For the embellishments, wool felt or acrylic felt is the best and easiest to use for this project. This material keeps its shape, the edges won’t ravel, and it is super cheap to purchase with a variety of colors. The key is to keep those shapes super simple. You can easily print off coloring pages to use as traceable shape templates {free
printable pattern} or draw your own.
This is a super easy project so try not to over think the it! A tree can be a few leaves with a rectangular shape for the trunk. No need to go fancy as simpler designs works best. Include the kids as they have wonderful imaginations and can have fun with simple ideas. This simple construction will help keep the finished project durable as it will get used a lot and washed a lot! So don’t go over board.
My boys love to play with LEGOS and their constructed LEGO ships were perfect to play on an outerspace play mat. Their second favorite is a pirate play mat which included the use of ships, dudes, and some gold coins. A map could be made to lead them to the treasure for extra fun.
Not only is this a fun project to create with and for your kids, it makes a wonder gift idea. If it is a gift, don’t forget to include a few play accessories to make it a complete play kit.
Becky blogs at Patchwork Posse. She is the mom of 4 and homeschools part time. Becky is a very talented quilter and pattern designer who loves plushies, dolls and just about anything that is made with fabric. Please follow Patchwork Posse on FB!
Don’t forget to get your
free printable play mat pattern from Becky!
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